Bridging Water, Bridging Worlds: Partnerships for Water Security

The work of Friendship in Bangladesh features this video, which shows how, through inclusive collaborations and innovative working principles, the Netherlands’ water programs contribute to water security, water safety, and climate resilience across the world. The Netherlands also learns from these approaches. Countries and communities worldwide face similar water challenges, and no one has all the answers, so we must stay open, learn from each other, and build resilience together. This video shows how the Netherlands works on this and what the impact of that is. One of the programmes highlighted to show how the Netherlands fosters collaboration is The Reversing the Flow (RtF) programme in Bangladesh, which shows how RVO supports locally-led approaches: RtF funds hubs like Friendship that empower communities in vulnerable situations to strengthen their water security. These communities have valuable knowledge and capacities. Yet limited resources exclude them from realisation, and traditional top-down approaches withhold them from decision-making over their priorities. By connecting these communities with other communities, experts, and governments, and providing logistical, technical, and foremost financial support, Friendship helps them in organising and implementing effective solutions.